Viewing John F. Shaughnessy (1889-1957).John F. Shaughnessy (1889-1957).In the nineteenth century, many lawyers taught school before they read law; in the twentieth, many law students worked as salesmen while attending law school. This was the path that John Shaughnessy took. Unable to afford college after graduating East High School in Minneapolis in 1908, he joined Ault & Wilborg, a manufacturer of printing inks and dyes, where he became a top salesman. In 1925, he decided to pursue his ambition of becoming a lawyer and, while continuing work in sales, began taking night classes at the Minnesota College of Law. Four years later he graduated with a stellar academic record and president of his class. Admitted to the bar on March 20, 1930, he began practicing law, eventually concentrating on real estate and probate cases. He died on October 2, 1957, at age sixty-eight. In a memorial service for the Hennepin County Bar Association the next year, his son John remarked, "I believe that one of the happiest days of my father?s life was the day he graduated from Law School and realized his great ambition to become a Lawyer." |